IntroductIonH isTory has been witness to plenty of civil wars in which largescale rape of civilians by soldiers, rebels, and militias occurred either as part of a strategy for opportunistic reasons or because rape became an established practice. 1 yet little is known about the social consequences of wartime sexual violence. 2 This article examines the long-term consequences of widespread conflict-related sexual violence (crsv) in sierra leone. Does crsv destroy the social fabric of communities as is often claimed, or are victims, families, and communities able to overcome such traumatic events and demonstrate resilience? What do crsv victims and their families do to remain part of their communities? These questions are significant, particularly in postconflict societies where the state is often absent and people must rely on and cooperate with each other.The feminist literature provides the most established and developed ideas on these questions and suggests that crsv, most often rape by armed groups, is associated with stigma and results in social exclusion. 3 This notion is the dominant view of feminist scholarship and within the development community, and in this article i refer to it as the decay mechanism. nity organizations and more likely to contribute to social events, such as weddings and funerals, and they donate more often. in addition, the analysis shows that crsv-affected households are as likely as unaffected households to receive the community's help in times of need, which speaks against the idea of social exclusion. These effects of crsv are independent of other forms of violence, including killings, mutilation, and displacement, and are robust to an instrumental variable estimation, which uses the exogenous distance to mining areas as an instrument for crsv exposure perpetrated by the ruf.Ultimately, i find unbiased evidence for the resilience argument. To illuminate the underlying mechanisms, i provide qualitative accounts that community acceptance of crsv survivors and their families in sierra leone has been facilitated through immense peacebuilding efforts, women's rights campaigns, and in particular, local-level reconciliation and cleansing rituals. in terms of policy relevance, the article provides new insights into communities' adaptive capabilities when dealing with traumatic events like widespread crsv and adds to the growing discourse on resilience by providing evidence that individuals, households, and communities in postconflict settings are able to absorb certain shocks and distress. Using these local abilities will benefit the efficacy of humanitarian and development programs tremendously. concepts, MechanIsMs, and hypothesesHow does crsv affect victims' and their families' behavior and acceptance in their community? Before turning to the proposed mechanisms, i define the two key concepts used in this article: prosocial behavior and crsv.prosocIal BehavIor: defInItIons and Its usefulness In postconflIct socIetIes The notions of prosocial behavior, altruism, and cooperative norms hav...
Research on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has grown rapidly over the last decade. This article consolidates existing social science research on CSRV according to two lines of inquiry: its causes and its consequences. Overall, research has considerably advanced our knowledge of the causes of CRSV, particularly in four aspects: purpose, context, individual motives and intra-group dynamics. However, there is a need to better understand the societal consequences of CRSV, in particular how it affects relations in families, and within and between communities. Overall there remains a shortage of empirical, in particular mixed-method, designs to produce research which is relevant for policymakers and practitioners.
We argue that polygyny creates a social imbalance where few, economically well-off men marry many wives and many poor men marry late or never. By definition, polygyny produces what we refer to as “excess men.” In order to gain material wealth, excess men are likely to raid, plunder, and rob neighboring ethnic groups. We test this hypothesis with georeferenced data on polygyny and intergroup conflict in rural Africa and find strong support. Drawing on Afrobarometer survey data, we explore the underlying mechanisms and find that young men who belong to polygynous groups feel that they are treated more unequally and are readier to use violence in comparison to those belonging to monogamous groups. Our article makes an important contribution to the peace, conflict, and development literature by emphasizing a fundamental aspect of human life: marriage and family.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.